On Saturday, I took the bike to a mate's place with the Topeak Trunk Drybag on the back to drop some guitar strings at his place, en route to Bunnings and Aldi. By the time I got home, I had a borrowed hammer drill, a bunch of fasteners and a bottle of Coke, plus the cable lock, jammed in the bag. I'm utility awesome

I do on regular occasions drop the family off to an outdoor event of some kind, park the car any distance away and then ride back with two full sized foldup chairs attached to the back pack. Ditto transporting stilts. My backpack seems particularly suited to attaching pairs of long and heavy things to it.

At last years ride to work day, I rode in with a spare uncicyle attached. Now THAT took some creative thinking!

I'm good for adding two bottles of wine to the pack when I am riding home but I find bottles don't sit comfortably. I have to really want a drink at dinner to do it.

I've been shopping on the bike lately and had my biggest load to date a couple of weeks ago. I had 2 x Tioga panniers (you know the cheap-but-big ones?) full of vegies and groceries, two front panniers full of 12 x 1.2Kg tins of dog food, a 12Kg bag of dog biscuits across the back and a full Carradice Camper Longflap on top of that. Handled beautifully!

One of the downsides when compared with a car is that you can't just throw stuff in; you kind of need to load each bag up carefully. That's why I'm now looking at an Xtracycle platform so that I can just take green bags chuck them in the back...

I'm always amazed by how much I can squeeze into the Camper LF eh. It's often the only bag I have and so it carries whatever I pick up on the way home.

WestcoastPete wrote:I've been shopping on the bike lately and had my biggest load to date a couple of weeks ago. I had 2 x Tioga panniers (you know the cheap-but-big ones?) full of vegies and groceries, two front panniers full of 12 x 1.2Kg tins of dog food, a 12Kg bag of dog biscuits across the back and a full Carradice Camper Longflap on top of that. Handled beautifully!

One of the downsides when compared with a car is that you can't just throw stuff in; you kind of need to load each bag up carefully. That's why I'm now looking at an Xtracycle platform so that I can just take green bags chuck them in the back...

I'm always amazed by how much I can squeeze into the Camper LF eh. It's often the only bag I have and so it carries whatever I pick up on the way home.

You can just chuck stuff in, for sure, but you do have to be a bit careful..... delicate stuff on top! I also almost lost a loaf of bread once cos I had it on top, but not quite in the right spot and it slipped out from under the strap as I was going over a bump....

WestcoastPete wrote:I've been shopping on the bike lately and had my biggest load to date a couple of weeks ago. I had 2 x Tioga panniers (you know the cheap-but-big ones?) full of vegies and groceries, two front panniers full of 12 x 1.2Kg tins of dog food, a 12Kg bag of dog biscuits across the back and a full Carradice Camper Longflap on top of that. Handled beautifully!

One of the downsides when compared with a car is that you can't just throw stuff in; you kind of need to load each bag up carefully. That's why I'm now looking at an Xtracycle platform so that I can just take green bags chuck them in the back...

I'm always amazed by how much I can squeeze into the Camper LF eh. It's often the only bag I have and so it carries whatever I pick up on the way home.

There is a bright side though. You save time looking for a car park. It normally takes me about 15mins to find a parking and up to 10 mins to exit the car park. Bicycle parking only takes 1 min. I usually plan how I pack my groceries while I shop. When I return to my bike, its just a matter of arranging the order of bags going into the panniers. I do alot of shopping online as well, which is probably why I don't really need to drive. I can just imagine cycling home with 2 x 25kg of rye and spelt flour Not that I have seen flour sold in those quantities at any grocery store.

WestcoastPete wrote:I've been shopping on the bike lately and had my biggest load to date a couple of weeks ago. I had 2 x Tioga panniers (you know the cheap-but-big ones?) full of vegies and groceries, two front panniers full of 12 x 1.2Kg tins of dog food, a 12Kg bag of dog biscuits across the back and a full Carradice Camper Longflap on top of that. Handled beautifully!

One of the downsides when compared with a car is that you can't just throw stuff in; you kind of need to load each bag up carefully. That's why I'm now looking at an Xtracycle platform so that I can just take green bags chuck them in the back...

I'm always amazed by how much I can squeeze into the Camper LF eh. It's often the only bag I have and so it carries whatever I pick up on the way home.

There is a bright side though. You save time looking for a car park. It normally takes me about 15mins to find a parking and up to 10 mins to exit the car park. Bicycle parking only takes 1 min. I usually plan how I pack my groceries while I shop. When I return to my bike, its just a matter of arranging the order of bags going into the panniers. I do alot of shopping online as well, which is probably why I don't really need to drive. I can just imagine cycling home with 2 x 25kg of rye and spelt flour Not that I have seen flour sold in those quantities at any grocery store.

silkishuge wrote:There is a bright side though. You save time looking for a car park. It normally takes me about 15mins to find a parking and up to 10 mins to exit the car park. Bicycle parking only takes 1 min. I usually plan how I pack my groceries while I shop. When I return to my bike, its just a matter of arranging the order of bags going into the panniers. I do alot of shopping online as well, which is probably why I don't really need to drive. I can just imagine cycling home with 2 x 25kg of rye and spelt flour Not that I have seen flour sold in those quantities at any grocery store.

Jon

It adds up when you're trying to shop at various shops instead of the supermarket. On the trip I'm talking about, I went to the pet food shop, then the asian grocer, and then the fruit and veg shop. It was a PITA coordinating it all compared to a car, but I reckon I can get better at it. And now I can justify an Xtracyle, or even a Baekfiet perhaps.

I have a BOB trailer which is good for shopping - just load the groceries straight into the big yellow bag. I was using the Bike Friday to tow it though and I felt that the heavy loads were putting a fair bit of stress on the bottom folding pivot so I've stopped using it. So for now I don't really have a BOBable bike, but one will hopefully turn up soon enough...

WestcoastPete wrote:It adds up when you're trying to shop at various shops instead of the supermarket. On the trip I'm talking about, I went to the pet food shop, then the asian grocer, and then the fruit and veg shop. It was a PITA coordinating it all compared to a car, but I reckon I can get better at it. And now I can justify an Xtracyle, or even a Baekfiet perhaps.

I have a BOB trailer which is good for shopping - just load the groceries straight into the big yellow bag. I was using the Bike Friday to tow it though and I felt that the heavy loads were putting a fair bit of stress on the bottom folding pivot so I've stopped using it. So for now I don't really have a BOBable bike, but one will hopefully turn up soon enough...

Speaking of strain on the bike, I find that the rear wheel suffers abit when over loaded. I try to avoid the pot holes and usually do but the road surface is not great and some sections look like a continuous section of pot holes. I used to use a trailer but its hard going up a hill to the main rd from my place. Its a 700m hill climb with a minimum gradient of 7% and a maximum of 21%. It was hard even when the trailer was empty and coming down was impossible. I did not have sufficient braking power.

Some people are a bit perplexed, but most people don't seem to pay much attention. Maybe they just think I can't afford a car.

I put effort into not being a PITA at the checkout by packing my bag really slowly; I'll normally pay and finish packing it somewhere else. I've had the odd occasion where it hasn't just been me that's amazed at how much my Camper LF can hold.

Oxford wrote:I can't say I'm amazed at how many people do their shopping using a bike, it is a cycling forum after all. But how do people react to you? I find people have this puzzled look such as how is he going to fit it all in that box? Why? And various other expressions. Only had one person say something which was positive saying it was a good idea I had.

I also find shopping on the bike to be convenient as I can park the bike right outside the entrance. No wrestling the trolley through the carpark. Parking was never an issue in suburban Brisbane so no real time saved, just the satisfaction that I am riding instead of driving. I do very little riding nowadays so any excuse to ride, especially utility riding.

Weird looks mostly. A few people saying 'where did you get that bike' (mainly other cyclists though). Lots of kids stare.

Oxford wrote:I can't say I'm amazed at how many people do their shopping using a bike, it is a cycling forum after all. But how do people react to you?

Mostly not at all; although some checkout operators must think I'm OCD or something, trying to sort things into two bags to get the same weight in each (yeah, inevitably I have ended up re-packing / redistributing the load outside). A couple of people have openly envied my panniers, which made me happy! They happen to be almost the exact dimensions of those standard supermarket rectangular green-bags - so I just fill two of those max, then drop them straight in.

I find grocery shopping by bike pretty good for sticking to the essentials - and zipping past a line of stationary cars waiting for a park at the farmer's market is quite a nice feeling too

75 litre backpack which I used a couple of years back for a while when some of the perth fire people met a kings park for evenings. Lets see now...a dozen or more juggling ballsFuel for fire stuffFire clubsfire eating sticksplastic juggling clubscouple of stock whipsthree legged chairdevil sticksa couple of diabolosfour contact juggling balls (those suckers are H-E-A-V-Y!)lightsspare tube, patch kit, pump, etcand whatever else took my fancy on the evening

plus all the usual personal items

I recall weighing it once before I left home and, from memory, it was approaching 20kg and it was a bugger to be able to do turns while riding.